Blogs from Hawaii, United States, North America - page 146

Day 6: Tuesday Today was Obama’s inauguration day as the 44th president of the United States and the streets were full of tourists and locals wearing T-shirts with Obama slogans. By the time we were ready and out, the inauguration was over in Washington DC because of the 5 hour time difference. If we were in NY, watching the ceremony would have been a priority. But we were not at all drawn to the moment in history, as our mind was filled with the beauty of Hawaii. This was the last day of our vacation. We drove over to the North shore to Haleiwa for our Shark adventure cruise. We checked in as suggested in Pier 35 at the harbor and 2 guys - Tim and Scott took us out on their sailboat. It was a ... read more

Rob had to return to Hilo to lead another shorter Elderhostel so we sadly say "Aloha" and "Mahalo" ("thank you"). Susan and Rob made a great pair during the past week. Both are incredibly knowledgeable and experienced with everything from every kind of work people can do on the islands to the inner workings of the National Park Service! We were grateful to have had him along. After a buffet breakfast (meals at the hotels so far had been generous buffets which fueled our extensive walks), we rode to the Kona Historical Society site. Marty describes this visit very well at http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Big-Island/Kailua-Kona/blog-372748.html I would add that during the visit, I usually carried the camera, Ann's purse, and my own bag with binoculars and other stuff. I confess that I felt a real affinity to the "Kona ... read more

Alooooha! Here are the Christmas pictures. I know this post is a little out-dated by now, you can thank the black-out, the fact that I had to wait for Andrea T and Ron to upload them and mail me a CD because the files were too big to email, and my own laziness :) Anyway- Hope everyone is enjoying 2009. All is going good on my end. Pretty rainy out here, but can't really complain. Happy MLK day :) Love and miss yas Allison ... read more

Susan had planned a snorkeling day for us but the winds and high surf were not cooperating and Kahalu'u Bay was closed. We were disappointed. Susan tried to "sweet talk" our way in but the life guards were having none of it! So we went back to Kona Resort and changed into street clothes - we were dressed with swim suit under shorts and T to be prepared to snorkel! There was a short "rest" period during which Susan learned Kahalu'u Bay was now opened - High winds and surf had died down. Being very close to our scheduled time for lunch at Keauhou Beach Resort, we went to lunch. Susan said perhaps we could go back to snorkel in the later afternoon after our walking tour of historic of Kailua-Kona. On the walking tour, we ... read more

Day 4: Sunday A local friend that we made during our customary night walks on Waikiki beach recommended us to try out breakfast at Sarento’s, top of the Waikiki Ilikai beach hotel and he gave us free invitations for Sunday breakfast that was otherwise not available, as the restaurant is open normally only for dinner. The ride up in the glass elevator to this restaurant was an event in itself, and the romantic view from there, of the Diamond Head crater, Waikiki beach and Honolulu’s skyline was a treat in itself. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, pastries and muffins complimented with fresh tropical fruit and tropical fruit juices. Niki had a 1 pm appointment for swimming with the dolphins at the Sea Life Park, so we rescheduled our shark adventure to Tuesday. ... read more